The Rising
by faithinthecharm
Summary: A tribe of beautiful shedemons come to sanfrancisco, looking to seduce the charmed boys. Can the new girl in town save the day while coming to terms with her new power and a family secret? Please R
1. Dance Monkey

**Disclaimer:** I don't own charmed or any of the characters that were or are on the show. Only the story line and the characters that have not been featured on TV are mine.

This kinda counts as the first prequel to my other story 'Don't look back in anger' but it's set a long way before

Please R&R both. As before all reveiws, critism and ideas will be gratefully recieved and any ideas used credited

Thanks

Purple

**The Risen**

**Chapter 1: Dance Monkey and New Girl**

'The All American Rejects', boomed out of Chris Haliwell's room as his younger sister Melinda, strolled past, she stood by the door, watching her elder brothers air guitar technique. "Hey there, dance monkey. Shouldn't you be at work by now? Whyatt is."

He rolled his eyes to hide his embarrassment, and slammed the door. His sister yelled through the door " You're twenty-one years old shouldn't you grow up?"

"And you're seventeen years old shouldn't you be in school by now?"

The silence on the other side of the door was punctuated by feet and the muffled sound of "Oh damn!" and he smiled to himself. Mel was easy to shut up, but his mom and brother wouldn't be. He dragged on a pair of shoes, cursing the workman at P3 for making it impossible for him to orb to the club and take a little of the sting out of his lateness

Chris had recently been handed a percentage ownership of the club that his mother had stated up two decades before, P3 carried a certain weight of reputation these days. It still pulled in good bands for a smaller San Francisco and had gathered plenty of kudos for lasting so long, Chris loved the place, it was his favourite place to be but he still couldn't quite get free of his enormously influential family.

His brother Whyatt had matured into pretty much the magickal king of the world and still had time to look pretty and be on time for stuff. Chris tried to silence a flare of temper in his head by slamming the door to the Manor really hard. It didn't help much. His sister's car still in the driveway with a post-it on the windscreen "Sorry Dance Monkey, took your car, was out of gas M".

He grimaced, and let out a roar of frustration as he tore the Post-it off the window and balled it up in his fist. He began to walk.

As Chris walked into the club, he saw Whyatt talking to a new waitress. He could see Whyatt face on and the back of the waitress. She was an long auburn hair and she appeared to be listening in earnest to Whyatt.

Chris growled again, he already had a girl and now he was being so Nordic and square jawed and toned around the new girl.

Chris wandered over and spoke over the girls shoulder to Whyatt. "Hey big brother what did I miss?"

Whyatt turned Chris. "You missed nine am... again" He pulled his grumpy face and then let it drop, even though Chris knew it wouldn't stay dropped. "This is...this is the new waitress." he tried to cover his embarrassment at forgetting her name. "I guess I better tell Mom you showed."

"Teacher's pet" Chris muttered under his breath. "Hi, I'm Chris Haliwell. I'm one of the owners, not that you'd know."

Hi, I'm Kara Williamson, one of the waitresses, no-one's decided yet if you'll get to know." She smiled lightly but Chris was already chasing Whyatt.

"Mel took my car. I'll go talk to Mom"

I'll tell you what there's supposed to be another waitress, but she's late and I have an order to sort out you take care of the newbie's and we'll let your tardiness drop."

Chris rolled his eyes again and turned towards the door and was stopped in his tracks by a stunning barely dressed blonde woman in skyscraper shoes. "Hi I'm Marie Allen, your new waitress. Is it just me?"

His anger vanished and he rolled past the other new waitress without a second thought.


	2. Can't get a read

**Disclaimer:** I don't own charmed or any of the characters that were or are on the show. Only the story line and the characters that have not been featured on TV are mine.

This kinda counts as the first prequel to my other story 'Don't look back in anger' but it's set a long way before

Please R&R both. As before all reviews, criticism and ideas will be gratefully received and any ideas used credited

Thanks

Purple

**Chapter 2**

**Can't get a read.**

Kara stomped back into her apartment to be met by her flatmate "Hey Britgirl, how'd your first day go? Any talent?"

Kara slumped on to the sofa and grumpily began to remove her shoes. " Hey Alice. Did you get the memo? I'm not Britgirl anymore I'm Invisible girl. There was some talent, but there was also a fluffy gorgeous blonde type that appeared to be wearing a swimming costume instead of work clothes. There was some talent but I might has well not have been there!"

"Even the accent didn't work!"

"The accent always works"

"Apparently looking like a Barbie doll works better...MEN!"

Her roommate nodded sympathetically "I know babes, anyway I have to go to bed. Some of us have to work in the daytime."

"I know, thanks for staying up to see how it went"

Her roommate smiled sleepily "You still have to tell me tomorrow" she said and headed for her room.

"As soon as you get in from work I promise" she called after Alice's retreating back. Then she stood up and headed for her room.

When she got to her room she lit a vanilla scented candle to dispel the clinging smell of a late night working in the nightclub.

She changed and shook her hair out of the messy style she had pinned it into, as she'd got hot during the night. She ran her hands through her hair and looked into the mirror.

The flickering light from the candle flame threw crazy shadows across her face and made the light dance in her green eyes. She cast her mind back to her new job, in particular to the other new waitress.

"So, I can't get a read on you huh?" She talked to her reflection, musing the blonde girl. "That means you're either a demon or you're such a bimbo there's nothing for me to get a read on, which somehow I doubt." She smiled ruefully at her image in the mirror " or I'm still so new at this, that I'm incapable of getting a read, or my dad was a crackpot and I'm not a telepath at all"

She sighed and head to bed, blowing out the candle on her way past.

At the same time, in a warehouse, across town the blonde waitress, Marie, stood on a podium addressing a group of her peers. "I have the younger one hanging off my every...word"

She smirked, the cruelty of the expression twisting every suggestion of beauty and humanity from her face. "The only thing really in my way, is a little, wallflower, of a telepath."

One of the others piped up "So we kill her?"

"No point in drawing attention to ourselves just yet and I'd like to have a little fun with her first!"

Hyenalike laughter rose from the crowd below her and the smile that split her face that made her every inch a demon.


	3. All's Fair

**Disclaimer:** I don't own charmed or any of the characters that were or are on the show. Only the story line and the characters that have not been featured on TV are mine.

This kinda counts as the first prequel to my other story 'Don't look back in anger' but it's set a long way before

Please R&R both. As before all reviews, criticism and ideas will be gratefully received and any ideas used credited

Thanks

Purple

I know it's a bit slower to get going this time but wait and see.

Spelt it right this time AnimeAlexis

**Chapter 3**

**All's fair...**

Kara showed up for work early again the next morning and worked in to find her new boss, Piper Haliwell, crouching in the back scrambling around trying to pick up the debris from a dropped box of mixing sticks.

Kara ran to help "Mrs Haliwell!"

Piper looked up an irritated look on her pretty face. Kara also dropped into a crouch and began to help with picking up the mixing sticks. Piper looked up, realised she was being helped and smiled.

"It's Marie, isn't it? she asked

Kara flinched, fully aware now, that the guy who had met her at the entrance hadn't mentioned her at all. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to smile. She dropped another handful of mixing sticks into the box and offered her hand to Piper to shake. "I'm Kara, the other new waitress."

Piper wrinkled her nose, puzzled, Kara spoke quickly to save them both embarrassment. "I'm just not as...out there as Marie."

"Sorry", Piper said quickly, "my sons just didn't mention you, but I didn't see them much yesterday" she said trying to cover. "Chris, my youngest son was the one who showed Marie... and you... around yesterday."

"Ahh I was wondering who he was. And the other guy?"

"My eldest Wyatt."

They dumped the last of the mixing sticks into the box and stood. At that moment Chris wandered into the back. His mother spoke first "Chris you've met Kara right?" Piper's tone was a little cutting.

Kara raised her head and she and Chris locked gazed and she raised an eyebrow, a playful smile playing across her lips as she read the thoughts flitting across his mind, even though they were broadcasting loud enough to bring a small smile to his mothers lips as well. "I'll try to be more memorable in future" she said.

Even in that moment as Marie appeared Chris' mind left Kara, and Kara switched her attention too.

The acknowledged each other coldly, but Kara was still unable to get a read from her beautiful new workmate.

Today officially speaking, Marie was wearing the uniform of P3 but she had slashed at the neck until it was barely covering her essentials and had tied the shirt into a knot above her navel. Marie sensed Chris' eyes on her and spun "What'd you think?" She giggled and Kara and Piper simultaneously rolled their eyes. "It's not about what you wear it's about how you wear it." She laid a hand on Chris' bicep, and dropped her hand a fairly convincing impressed expression on her vapid face, but the look in her eyes was calculating. "Unlike some" she threw a disgusted look at Kara, her eyes raking the other woman up and down.

Kara could stand it no longer, "Come on Marie, they pay us to work, and there's stuff to do", she strode across the room and grabbed the other girl by the arm and pulled her away. She could feel Marie seething at being interrupted in mid flirt.

Kara spoke in a low tone so only the other could hear her "Why are you doing this? I know you don't like him. And I don't think he'd be the type to go for demons."

By the fact that the other woman barely reacted, Kara realised she'd hit the nail on the head. "I know you."

Marie turned "No you don't witch, you have no idea, back away. Let me have him and I'll leave you be."

"Tell me why you want him? He's just a mortal"

The demon snorted, but realising the witch didn't know she let it run, "Because he's cute and you want him."

"I do not." she said, and then she remembered who she was talking to and her tone changed. "Raise one finger to anyone in this place and I'll stop you."

The demon smirked again. This was going to be fun.

In that moment, war was declared at P3 and all's fair in love and war.


	4. First move

I'd really appreciate any feedback. If you have any ideas on how to further this story let me know with your pen name and I'll credit you if I use it. Don't worry I won't get upset about negative feedback.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own charmed or any of the characters that were or are on the show. Only the story line and the characters that have not been featured on TV are mine.

**Chapter 4**

**First move**

The shift passed quickly and the band filled the club with happy customers. Kara tried to ignore Marie throwing herself at Chris at the opposite end of the bar.

She worked hard and forced the fact that she was working with a demon. She was determined that she wasn't a witch and her sister hadn't chosen to follow her mother's footsteps into evil.

She would rather believe her beloved father had suffered some kind of breakdown in the hours before his death, and she'd rather believe the voices in her head were from some mental illness bought on by the grief, than that she had inherited the telepathic powers had claimed to have.

Whatever it was, if it was telepathic ability she was glad that it was on the jip tonight in the packed nightclub, as the babble that often invaded her head in crowds might have knocked her sideways.

The club closed at around two am and Piper pulled Kara to one side.

"Hey how are you doing? Enjoying it?"

"Yes, Mrs Haliwell."

"My name's Piper, Kara."

"Piper", Kara smiled shyly and glanced sideways at the sound of laughter and saw Chris leaving with his arm draped around Marie. Piper watched her new waitress' face dropped and put a comforting hand on Kara's arm.

"If it helps, I think if my son had to choose one of you, he's picked the wrong one."

"Thanks but it's not that, mostly, it that she's a d...darned awful person."

"Well he's a bright boy, mostly, he'll realise...Well I'll let you get home. See you tomorrow?"

"Just you try and stop me. G'night"

"Night"

Kara left the club and walked home, but felt a strange sense of terror that rose in waves as she drew nearer to her apartment.

She tried to calm down after her conversation revealed that no-one had been in and out of number 307, her and Alice's apartment, since Alice had got in from work that evening.

Kara took the stairs to their floor and walked along the corridor, still unable to shake the feelings of terror and dread that had dogged her since she left the club.

She fumbled in her bag to get to her keys and shoved them in the lock, but found that the with the slightest pressure it fell open. Kara stepped inside and the feeling of terror was so strong that she nearly passed out.

"Alice?" she stepped forward again, the terror making her head spin "Allie? You left the door unlocked. Al?"

She turned the corner and saw the TV was on in Alice's room was on and she walked into the room.

"Al, you really shouldn't..." her speech trailed off.

Her best friend sat propped up in bed, apparently watching the TV...

...with her throat ripped out.


	5. Demon Daze

_**Recognizable characters that have appeared in any book, television series or movie, together with the names, titles and backstory, are the sole copyright property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended by the author, and no monetary profit has been made in the writing of this story. However, the story itself, as well as any original characters, are the sole property of the author. Please do not copy the story from this site or post these stories elsewhere without the express written permission of the author.**_

**This kinda counts as the first prequel to my other story 'Don't look back in anger' but it's set a long way before **

Please R&R both. As before all reviews, criticism and ideas will be gratefully received and any ideas used credited

Thanks

Purple

I know it's a bit slower to get going this time but wait and see.

**Chapter 5**

**Demon Daze**

The Haliwell's were woken at around 5am by the ringing of the phone.

"Hello?" Piper asked sleepily

"Piper?"

"Daryll?" Piper was suddenly wide awake. "What is it?"

"There's a girl in the station. She's very distressed and she's wearing a P3 uniform"

"She doesn't have next of kin?"

"She was bought in after discovering the murdered body of her next of kin. Her name is Kara. She has no-one else Piper."

"I'm on my way."

When Piper arrived Kara was sitting glassy eyed, Daryll led Piper to her. "Hey" Piper said softly.

Kara looked at her barely comprehending, still twisting the stretched hem of her P3 work shirt in her white knuckled hands.

"Piper" Kara tried to smile.

Piper pulled Daryll to one side and spoke softly and urgently. "Is she a suspect?"

"She's been questioned but the body looks like she's been dead since between six and eight o'clock this evening and the guy on the desk says she left at around 4.30pm and didn't return until 2.30am."

"She was at P3 from 5 o'clock until 2 am. I was with her at work."

After Piper had sworn a statement to that effect.

"Kara, you can come home with me."

"But I need to go home. Alice..."

Isn't there any more. The coroner took her away and the apartment will still be closed up until the police get finished."

"They'll be careful won't they? She hates... hated... mess."

It was 7.30am in the morning when Piper and Kara arrived at the Manor, and as Chris was descended the stairs with his latest conquest.

As soon as Kara saw the other waitress standing at the bottom of the stairs Kara lunged at her. Piper raised her hands to prevent it, but Kara didn't freeze.

"Woah!" Piper yelled "What's going on here?"

"She's a Tantrius demon, kills by seduction, kills with lust. She uses a technique called a thrall, by emitting a pheromone that draws her victims to her."

There was the sound of another demon shimmering in.

"Kara... why are you here?"

The witch turned to her demonic sibling.

"Hello Eve, did you do this? Send her here? Have Alice killed?" Kara asked.

"Yes, I sent her, but Alice wasn't supposed to die and she will be dealt with."

"Was it supposed to be me?"

"It was supposed to be whoever got in the way. I didn't know it would be you."

Piper's freeze melted.

"Maresh!" Eve called. The blonde underling took hold of Chris' arm. Kara lunged for the demon's arm as she shimmered out, so that she was also taken in the shimmer.

As the shimmer happened the Charmed Ones heard the retort of something hard hitting the floor. Piper stood open mouthed as Phoebe bent to pick up the dropped object. "Piper?" She brandished the object at her elder city.

"It's the crystal that Kara normally wears around her neck... with her blood on it."

"She's given us a way to find them." Paige said quietly, and turned to go to the attic.

"We have to find him... so I can kill him!" snapped Piper


	6. The Rising

**Chapter 6**

**The Rising**

"Kara?" Chris' voice bought her back to consciousness.

"Ungh!" she groaned and turned over "Chris? You OK?"

She felt his presence at her side. She leant to him and pulled him to her, locking her green eyes to his own. Not a trace of the Thrall. Without dropping her gaze she spoke quickly.

"I don't think I can die without having done this." She leaned forward and kissed him quickly and urgently. As she pulled away he grabbed her and kissed her softly.

"Me neither."

She pulled herself upright and spoke firmly. "Your family should be here soon. I left them crystal breadcrumbs."

"Hey! You can't go out there alone! You can't kiss me like that and then go out there alone!" He also stood and grabbed her hand. You're not going out there alone."

They stepped out of the shadows shoulder to shoulder.

The movement was noticed. "You can't save him Kara." Her sister purred "There's only one thing stronger than the Thrall. One thing strong enough to stop The Rising and you don't have it."

Chris whispered "What is she talking about?"

Kara shook her head, quickly, tensely, cutting the question off.

"Why do you need him Eve?"

"We need a male member of the Charmed line. The Elder was protected, so the younger one had to do."

Chris snorted, somehow annoyed that even in this Wyatt should have been first choice over him.

"The Rising is never going to happen. They thought we were the Rising remember?"

The demon Maresh took a cue from somewhere and moved forward. Kara glanced at Chrisand could almost see the Thrall enveloping him. He dropped Kara's hand and stepped towards the demon.

Eve intoned "And from a child of the Second Trinity shall Rise the greatest Evil the world has ever known." Her voice boomed the demonic sermon to her gathered flock of serpents.

"Eve..." the demon broke off from her speech to gaze at her witch sister "...It doesn't have to be like this, I believe you're still in there, somewhere, we can strip your powers, you know what the Rising can do and I can't believe you want that to happen."

"Eve", the demon Maresh called "she's stalling. Kill her!"

"Chris" Kara yelled "FIGHT IT!" She shut her eyes and visualised her thoughts travelling to him.

_"I don't think I can die without having done this." She leaned forward and kissed him quickly and urgently. As she pulled away he grabbed her and kissed her softly._

"_Me neither."_

A shimmer of blue light illuminated the dark candlelit chamber and a new voice chimed into the conversation "So what exactly were you going to do with my youngest son?"

Piper stood with her hands on her hips, as Eve drew Chris to her and threw a fireball.

Phoebe nudged her sister "Piper vanquish now be scandalised by slut demon later"

Kara screamed again "Chris!"

_"I don't think I can die without having done this." She leaned forward and kissed him quickly and urgently. As she pulled away he grabbed her and kissed her softly._

_"Me neither." _

The demon Maresh screamed "Eve, we're losing the Thrall."

_"I don't think I can die without having done this." She leaned forward and kissed him quickly and urgently. As she pulled away he grabbed her and kissed her softly._

"_Me neither."_

The Thrall was broken as Chris hit back and broke the grip of the demon and ran towards Kara. Eve panicked as the Charmed One's began to chant a spell and let off another fireball at her sister.

_Lustful demon, paramour of graceless love,_

_Return below as we are above,_

_Vanquish this evil, banish the Thrall,_

_Bring back our nephew and save us all._

The demon race began to scream as one as they began to explode. Kara turned to take in the Charmed Ones and Chris, who arrived just in time to catch her as she passed out.


	7. Kara's Monologue

**Chapter 7**

**Kara's Monologue**

"This is the story of a man, who was also a witch who met a woman who happened to be a demon. The demon was supposed to kill the witch, but the demon could not and the demon and the witch fell in love.

Time passed and they had twins, two little girls who were half witch and half demon.

The demon and the witch agreed to withdraw from their respective circles and raise their children as mortals. This worked for a while but neither could keep their promise and when the sisters reached six years old their mother tried to steal them away. Their father mounted a rescue attempt, but had only managed to get away with one twin and the other was forever lost to him.

Each parent stripped the powers of the undesirable half of their respective girl, leaving the girl living with the father all witch and the girl leaving with the mother all demon, but the twins could never quite forget each other, nor could the demonic sister quite forget the mortal morality given to her by her family. The demonic sister promised her witch sister that whatever happened she would never kill a human being, and the witch sister promised to continue trying to live as a mortal and not to involve herself in the dealings of her sisters dangerous Tantrix tribe.

So when the witch saw a Tantrix demon working at the bar she had just got a job in, she decided to stay out of it.

Even when she saw the demon cracking onto the guy she liked the look of, because she knew that as a tribe that a strong enough relationship might have caused her to turn her back on the Clan at least for a while, so the witch still kept her end of the deal. Even when she thought she felt the demon using the Thrall.

But then the witch heard that her demonic mother had been killed and that the sister was now head, or queen, of the Clan, and that she and her sister would never be able to talk again if her sister was to stay alive.

After work, mulling over this conversation the witch returned home to discuss it with her best friend and the only person who knew the whole story and had known her, her whole life, and found her with her with her throat ripped out.

She knew a Tantrix demon had done this and THE DEAL WAS OFF!

So the witch saved the man both she and the demon had wanted and now she doesn't know what to do, so for now she's going to take her friend's body home and try to decide what to do.

And, I Kara Williamson, was the witch and my twin sister, Eve Williamson was the queen demon, and I just chose to lead you, the Charmed Ones, to her, so you could kill her, so don't mind me if I'm a little spaced out right now."


	8. Chris and Kara

**Chapter 8**

**Chris and Kara**

The Charmed One's and their kin stood flabbergasted as Kara rose from the seat in the kitchen having told her story in an unemotional third person monotone.

Piper marched after her "You made a _deal_ with a demon?" Her voice rose an octave with every word.

"No, I made a deal with my sister, so that there could be no way we could kill each other." She winced and squeezed her eyes shut and her chest heaved "but she broke the deal when she killed Alice, when she sent a demon to my place of work, and because she broke the deal like that I knew I couldn't even pretend it was possible for me to continue to keep my end, to keep up and be comfortable with this pretence of ignorance..."

She was interrupted by the chirping of a mobile phone. Kara sniffed to force back the tears and pulled the mobile phone, which now had a long crack in the screen, from her back pocket.

A look of distress passed over her face "It's Alice's parent's can I...?" she indicated the sun room with a twitch of her head.

"Did she tell them about Alice yet?" Phoebe asked

"In what time?" Paige asked "she's been stuck at the police station, then kicking demon ass, then explaining things to us and getting yelled at." she cast a look at Piper

Chris slipped away to stand in the living room doorway. He listened to her side of the conversation and watched her stride around in the bright, incongruous light of the sun room of Haliwell Manor. "Yes...I'm sorry you had to hear like that...they had to talk to me because I found her...I'm sure they did I asked them to take care of her...I'll do it...I'd be honoured... I'll let you know... goodbye Mrs Allen I'll see you soon...I know I loved her too...Goodbye"

Chris stepped out of the doorway "Hey I didn't mean to pry but... I suppose I didn't want you to come off the 'phone from that and be alone...If you want me to go..."

"No, I don't think I want me to be alone now either." she spoke softly battling with the emotion that, already so raw, so recent, the call had bought back to the surface "I don't really know what I want, except maybe the last few days back."

"I bet you wish you'd never laid eyes on me. If it wasn't for me..."

"No!" she spoke quickly, heatedly, she went to him, covering the large floor in three steps. "If I'd never laid eyes on you then the Rising might be happening right now. I don't do 'if's Chris. I find 'if' always hurts too much." she kissed him "and if I'd never laid eyes on you, it would have made meeting you kind of difficult.

"How can you...?" he asked wondering how she could still kiss him, still bear to look at him, after all it was all his fault.

She looked at him. "It wasn't your fault. If I hadn't have ignored the demon, kept the damn deal, I knew how to kill those demons and I should have. Then Alice wouldn't have died and I'd still have met you."

She put her head on his chest, taking comfort in hearing his heartbeat and the warmth of him.

She pulled away "So, Haliwell, you know all about me. All my deep dark secrets. Take my mind off the demon's and the corpses and the death. Tell me about you."

"Well, to tell you about me I wouldn't be tell you about me I won't be able to not talk about demons and corpses and death."

He settled on the sofa in the sun room and she sat beside him once again settling in his arms, listening to the vibration in his chest as he talked.

"So you wanted to know about me. I'm the younger brother, the one that's not square and Nordic looking and not destined to run the world. Sometimes that's not too bad, the pressure's off but somehow still on because I'm not the eldest but I still feel like I've got to live up to Wyatt.

Sometimes it feels like I've been in this life twice. One morning when I was about fourteen I had a dream that my mom was dead and it felt so real. I got up in the morning and somehow I didn't expect my mom, my dad, my aunts and my brother and sister, not to be there, but then I went downstairs to the smell of coffee and pancakes and everyone was there and I don't think I've ever been happier, for a surly teenager" he smiled.

"What was it like growing up in a house with the Charmed One's?" Kara asked.

"It was wonderful, is wonderful, and terrible at the same time. This house is always full of light and family and closeness and love, but I always had that weird dislocated feeling, like those dreams, plus lots of death and demons and corpses. There was my dad who taught at magic school after he clipped his wings."

"Clipped his wings?"

"He used to be a whitelighter, sort of like an angel."

Kara touched his face "It doesn't surprise me" she said softly

"He and my mom, they loved each other since they first met each other. It's a love story so epic that I'm surprised they didn't write ballads about it.

"Mel my sister is the youngest of us, she's seventeen. I have three cousins "Prudence and Caleb are my Aunt Phoebe's kids and Grace belongs to Aunt Paige."

I part own P3, well sort of. My mom gave me and Wyatt a quarter when we turned twenty-one and Mel will get the last in four years. Is that enough?"

But for the first time in thirty six hours she was sleeping.


	9. Pride

**Chapter 9**

**Pride**

Kara woke alone, bought out of a dead, dreamless sleep by her mobile 'phone buzzing on the table beside her. The noise seemed deafening after the emptiness of her sleep and her waking felt sudden and violent.

The call came from Alice's parents and though she felt a knot of dread, she answered it quickly...

Upstairs, Chris was stood by the Book reading about the clan of Tantrix demons and how the effects of the Thrall were broken.

_**Tantrix Clan**_

_The Tantrix demons are groups of female demons known as Clans._

_The are primarily led by Clan Planners who co-ordinate the various groups. _

_However Tantrix demons are more heirachical than most demon groups, with each Clan leader reporting to a Tribal Queen, who has overall control of all the Clans._

_Their main weapon is a form of mind control, which convinces the, generally male, subject that he is deeply and immediately in love with the demon in question._

_There are only two known ways to combat the Thrall. If a person is already secure in a love, the Thrall cannot touch him._

_A strong but unconfirmed attachment, combined with the desire to keep the object safe from harm is known to save a person from the effects of the Thrall._

Chris let the Book fall shut and turned to leave the attic.

Downstairs Kara put the phone down heavily, dropped backwards onto the sofa she'd been sleeping on, finally allowing her tears to fall.

Her grief rose in great gulping sobs that drove through her with such violence that they hurt her chest. The call she had just taken confirmed what she had feared. That this wasn't all a bad dream. She wasn't going to be woken by the sudden bleeping of her electronic alarm, to find it was actually three days ago and Alice had left her towels all over the bathroom floor as usual. That 'phone call meant she was already awake and that Alice was dead.

That 'phone call had come from Alice's parents to say that the police had released her body for burial and that they would like Kara to accompany their daughter's body home.

Kara had agreed readily and faced with this reality, with a heavy heart she had ended the call, and after controlling her emotions, rose to tell her new friends and employers the news.

"Piper?" She called to her boss who was busy in the kitchen

"Hmm?"

"That was a call from Alice's parents. The police have released her body and her parents want me to take her home. To Staffordshire. In England." she began to talk quickly, babbling "And I don't really know how long I'll be. Or what I'll do if any more demons show up. She blinked back more tears at the thought and looked helplessly at Piper go.

Chris had once again been listening at the door way and he stepped into the room to stand at Kara's shoulder.

"I'll go" he said quietly, he cleared his throat and repeated himself, louder this time "I'll go."

Kara turned and smiled gently at him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you." she said quietly.

Piper spoke then. "Kara, why don't you go and take a shower then see if Mel has some clothes you can borrow to go to the police station in?"

"Thanks Piper."

"Don't thank me yet Mel hasn't leant you any clothes yet and she's not great at sharing the decent stuff." Piper smiled and spoke jovially.

Kara smiled as best she could and and turned to go up the stairs to the unoccupied bathroom. Piper called her youngest son to her.

"Chris, honey, you know this wasn't your fault don't you?"

"Isn't it? If she hadn't have met me..."

"Then, you, middle child, would probably be dead and the Rising, whatever it was would have happened. Anyway by the sounds of it whatever deal she made with her sister to guarantee her safety seemed to be called off when her sister became Clan Queen. I wouldn't think about it honey. You've offered to be there for her and I'm proud of you for that." Piper leaned over and kissed the side of his head "Really proud." She dried her hands on a tea towel and left the kitchen.


	10. Home is where the graves are

**Authors note:** below the - - mark I had the song 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol in my head. I think it adds to it (but that's just me so if you could overlay that too I think it would be good.

Thanks

Purple

**Chapter 10**

**Home is where the graves are**

Kara stepped off the plane at Birmingham Airport, back in England, trying to keep her mind off the white noise place in her mind, switching her brain back to the journey. The gossip she had picked up about the coffin in cargo, the happy stories of people returning home for weddings, birthdays and births or just from good holidays, the sad stories of funerals and betrayals. She couldn't sleep as Chris did for the blurred noise of thoughts she picked up, but for once she was glad, because it sort of blocked the white noise out. The only thing that seemed to work was when Chris woke and they talked and the actual talk seemed to block it out.

Occasionally she would glance at him as he slept and wondered why he was doing this, but she refused to prod, to search his thoughts, she kind of enjoyed wondering.

So she looked exhausted as she met Alice's parents, after checking on the coffin. She walked towards them across the tiles their thoughts deafening and the light bouncing into her eyes from the tiled floor seemed blinding.

She raised her head and saw the pain in the faces of the people who had been more like parents to her than her own mother at least had been, she felt herself stumble and would have fallen under the pressure of it all had Chris not stepped up and held her hand. He leaned in close "I know you're the mind reader, but I know you can do this." He squeezed her hand. She took this advice, straightening her shoulders and regulating her stride and drawing strength from the pressure of his hand in hers.

She breathed in as she drew close enough to speak but was broken off as Alice's mother Moira, engulfed her in a huge hug, as if holding on tight to the child their daughter had grown up with that they could bring Alice back to them. Kara could hear this thought in her head and nearly collapsed under the weight of combined grief, but stayed upright for them.

"Moira, Steven,...She's OK... as OK as..." she trailed off. How could Alice be OK? She was in a coffin, according to the airline she was cargo, when less than a year ago the two of them had sat crammed into a pair of economy class seats, laughing at the naff movie and now she had travelled back with a guy she barely knew, unable to laugh at anything and Alice was, to everyone else, just creepy cargo.

Kara shifted from foot to foot as they switched their attention to Chris. Moira turned and raised her eyebrow, and Chris knew where the habit was picked up from. "Moria, Steven, this is a friend of mine, Chris Haliwell. His mother...helped me after Alice died, and he wanted to come and pay his respects." Chris smiled quickly, understanding the point of her lie, after all how would you phrase the truth, but still not trusting himself to reply

The hearse was picking Alice up, taking her to the funeral home to clear up the mess, because her parents had wanted an open coffin. This wasn't something that Kara understood, before her father had died he had taken the chance to decide how his funeral would go, and had chosen a closed coffin 'so that everyone could remember what he was not what he had become', this flashed to front of her mind as the last time she had ever seen her mother, who had shimmered into the back of the crematorium and mocked the beautiful Wiccan ceremony. After she had appeared she disappeared just as quickly, for what reason and how she showed up, and how young she still looked even after ten years. The only estranged relative she had been pleased to see had been her sister Eve, and that had been cold and stilted due to the presence of the girls' mother, who hadn't known that they had remained in contact after they were separated.

She was dragged out of her reverie by Moria's voice "Would you like to go to your father's or come with us?"

"I...I think I'd rather go home. I want to say something and I need to decide what I need to say. I don't know if I can do that at her house, your house."

Moira seemed crestfallen but dropped Kara and Chris in front of a large Georgian house. "10.30 at Northern Hill on Tuesday, remember no black."

Kara smiled remembering her friends slightly morbid insistence, mostly to Kara that if she died first her funeral was to be an enjoyable experience, that no-one was allowed to wear black and that 'Rocky Road, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream' was to feature prominently at the wake. It had been a joke at the time, but right now it seemed important that it was honoured just for the pure Alice-ness of it.

Kara had simply wanted it made sure she had a Wiccan burial like her father.

Chris pulled her away from her thoughts "This is your house?"

"One of 'em, my father played the markets to his advantage. I suppose it was personal gain, maybe that was why he ended up loving a demon. This is where we lived. I suppose this is the Williamson version of the Manor, except your house is full of people and noise and love and this place, this place is an empty, ugly, shell and I think it always was."

"So we gonna go into the shell?" Chris joked, trying to lift the mood.

"Well it's pretty and we need to sleep and change our clothes sometime, so we might as well."

She laced her fingers back into Chris' and wandered back up the gravel path to the house that she had left the year before after her fathers death and intended to never return to again.

She opened the door and led Chris into a dark, musty smelling house pausing only to tell him that she had never meant to return here, and that it still because she still somehow couldn't bring herself to sell it.

The place was dark, all dark woods, dark paints and blood red stained glass in the windows spread eerie light across the upper floors. It was like the inversion of the Manor, the place felt brooding and unhappy.

Chris spoke in a whisper with a kind of reverence he felt the place seemed to deserve. "What was it like to grow up here?"

"It wasn't so good, that's why I did most of my growing up at Alice's. Her parents sort of adopted me. It helped a lot when my dad died, it didn't feel like I lost so much because we were never so close in the first place. He taught me all about Wicca, but not about anything else, so it seemed more like loosing a tutor than a parent. In a way loosing Alice hurts more." She stopped and began again abruptly her voice straining in an attempt at brightness "You want to sleep? Eat?"

"I think I need to sleep, but I don't know if I can."

They headed up a flight of stairs that were as dark as the rest of the house and stopped in front of one bright room, with a large four poster, yellow walls, modern art prints on the wall and clutter on the surfaces. It seemed out of place in this house. It seemed real while the rest of the place seemed like some morbid museum dedicated to some lost, depressing past.

"This was my room, my dad caved in and let me decorate it how I wanted it when I was fourteen and I guess I never got around to changing it. I suppose with this colour scheme I'll never manage to sleep anyway, so it doesn't matter." She tried to smile again

"I'll stay with you if you want me..." he stuttered, embarrassed by the slip up "If you want me to? If it''ll help?"

"It'll help." she led him into the room

- -

As they lay together later she asked him a question

"Why did you do this? Coming here? We've only known each other a few weeks?"

"Because you saved me. Because you lost everything because that demon thought you were a threat, because you helped my aunts kill your own sister, because of the risk you knew she posed as soon as she had me and you still don't seem to blame me, because I didn't want you to go through this alone and because together we broke the Thrall and I think that has to mean something big, right?."

"And here's me just thinking it was because you were a good guy." she said playfully.

"I am a good guy!" he said, mock outraged.

They smiled at each other for a moment before Kara's eyes clouded over with pain again, as if the endorphins had worn off.

"I'm not normally this kind of a girl you know" she said quietly, ashamed.

"I won't tell if you won't" Chris said "And I'll still be here when you wake up, and after that if you'll let me." His voice was gentle but all the playfulness had gone from it.

"I don't know if I should hang out with you any more Haliwell, you get me into trouble."

"If you don't tell me to go I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise"

"I promise"

"Then I'm not going to tell you to go anywhere."

"Promise."

"I promise."

He kissed her and pulled her close while they settled to sleep.


	11. The funkiest funeral on the Hill

Authors note: I know this chapter's a bit short but I think it works for impact. Just because: my favourite is Phish Food lol.

**Chapter 11**

**The funkiest funeral on the Hill**

It was Tuesday at 10.30 on the hill, and Alice's George's family were burying their only daughter, no-one wore black and the music of 'Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' blasted out of the crematorium loudly enough to caused raised eyebrows with the funeral officials.

Kara Williamson and Chris Haliwell stood side by side, hands intertwined, the only ones in attendance who knew the truth, who knew that Alice had already been avenged, but somehow that didn't help because they both knew that Alice's parents could never, would never, know that this was the case, would never even know what or who had killed their daughter. She would remain another of San Francisco's unsolved murders, looked into probably looked into and kept open for a while, and then filed as a cold case and forgotten by all those it did not matter to.

"What is it?" Chris asked, concerned about her looking so far away.

"Huh? Nothing. It's just... I have to lie in my speech, because no-one else knows what we know and I don't want to."

"So don't lie, just don't tell them the truth about her death either."

"I don't know...I can't..." she shook her head and dropped her gaze.

Chris took her face in his hands and lifted her head took look into her eyes green eyed gaze to green eyed gaze.

"You can do this... you can do this because you more than anyone knows what this would do to them and because you have to Kara and I know that you can."

They walked into the church still hand in hand. It seemed so dark and depressing, versus the last funeral she had been to, her father's had been, bright, white and sparkling, the words were full of hope that they would meet again, in a reincarnation of in the Summerlands.

This place seemed dark and Kara could feel no hope here. They sat in an uncomfortable pew, again full of dark varnished wood and dark scuffed red velvet, the musty church smell filling Kara's nose and conjuring a thousand memories of hope and despair, none of them hers, as in her life she had only been in church twice in her life, and this was before she had inherited her fathers telepathic abilities.

Even more than it should have been this was torture. Churches had too many attachments for these people, every swelling note of every hymn buffeted Kara's telepathic centres like she was a ship in a storm and every false word that came out of the priests mouth hit Kara like an arrow.

Kara's turn came, she was the second speech and the first had been real and Kara had wept. Now it was her turn and even though she had written and rewritten and rehearsed and re-rehearsed her speech, she didn't know if she was ever going to be ready.

She stood on the lectern and looked out at the sea of pale, drawn faces in the dark uninviting church and felt the emotions pouring out of them change direction as they turned their attention to her expectantly.

She took a deep breath and began to speak her voice trembling.

"I know that you all loved Alice, that we all did and I also know that she would be pleased that only the ones of you who are most comfortable in it are wearing black. I'll be honest, I was terrified of making this speech, because making the speech would make it all real, just like the police when the police released the body it would be real or when we bought her home and saw her parents it would make it real, but it's not real. It can never be real because she's always going to be with me, with us all. She saved me after my family fell apart, she became my family and her family did. She died too young and whoever did this will pay for depriving us of her and her of her life. She was a great and wonderful person and she will stay with us all in our hearts and minds always. Moira, Steven, I hope there's Ben and Jerry's at the wake otherwise it just wouldn't be Alice's party. And it is."

She left the lectern, legs shaking and returned to the pew beside Chris. She sat down and laid her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and once again she let her tears fall again soaking the fabric of Chris' shirt.

The wake was uneventful, but happy and finished late on a tide of music laughter and good memories of a good person.

A good few hours later a slightly intoxicated and very sugar happy Kara, sat clutching a litre of 'Rocky Road'. "She would have loved this you know" she said to Chris "This, however..." she waved the ice cream carton at him "...was not her favourite flavour."

He smiled, liking this more chilled version of her, but worried at how well she seemed to be reacting to this. "How are you?"

She seemed to sober up quickly, and Chris suspected that some of it was front or picked up from the mood of others, because of her lowered guard, her telepathic abilities, and perhaps like everyone there she felt she should be seeming happy, because 'it was Alice's party.'

"I hurt, like hell, because this was my fault and I lost her and helped kill Eve, but Eve let them kill her and I... but I have to get on with things, like she helped me to do after my mum and Eve left and when my dad died and if I don't I'll be letting her down. So, yeah, I hurt like I never thought I'd have to hurt again but I'll be OK, because I have to be."


	12. Dilemmas and visitations

**Chapter 12**

**Dilemmas and visitations **

"So what will we, I mean what will you do now? Chris asked quietly. The day had dawned early on the two of them sharing a bed again, but hey had simply slept curled up in each others arms. Kara had woken with a thick head. He had got up earlier than her and had just appeared dressed and bearing two cups of black coffee.

"Huh? I don't know. I suppose stay here for now. Without Alice... I don't really know anyone... other than you and your family and I have nowhere to live now. It was her apartment. Oh I love you..." she accepted the coffee gratefully and then realised what she'd said and tried to divert the conversation "...for the coffee. How come you don't have a hangover?"

"Whitelighters can self heal I suppose it's something to do with that. Plus I drank way less than you did, and you're probably on a comedown from the sugar rush." He took a deep breath and plunged into to what he'd been practising since he got up this morning, looked at her sleeping and realised he didn't know what he would do if she didn't return to San Francisco. "You could stay with me, with us, until you find somewhere else to live?" she looked down at her lap and she breathed in to speak... just as Chris got a call on his cell' 'phone. "Hello. Well couldn't he do that tomorrow... is he sure it's really that big... and there's fire and everything? OK I'm on my way!" he sighed heavily and turned to her "Can we talk about this later. There's a dragon on the loose at home. Wyatt has to go kill it." Kara raised a questioning eyebrow "It's to do with Excalibur. I'll tell you all about it when I have time. Anyway Mel and I apparently need to cast some kind of spell on a magickal knight, the armoured kind, that the dragon ate. I think it might even be Saint George. I'll tell you all about it later and we can talk about the other thing. Yell if you need anything and someone should come. Sleep your hangover off." He kissed her, swore lightly and orbed out.

She watched the swirl of blue lights and sighed deeply. She turned over in bed and hoped that sleeping on the dilemma

- -

"What dilemma?" Kara jerked awake at the sound, to see Alice sat on the end of the bed. "Well, what dilemma?"

"What, are you the telepath now?"

"No, but I am dead. It sort of changes how you looked at things."

"I imagine so. Wait how am I talking to you? You're dead."

"I was needed. We were talking about your dilemma."

"No, we weren't, I'm dreaming."

"OK then you're dreaming, well listen to your dream, you're a psychic aren't you? It's what you're supposed to do." Alice's spirit looked at her "You're my best friend and I love you, you know that right? Well, as a person who loves you, I'm telling you that he does to, or at least he could if you give it chance. You pulled him out of the Thrall, not his family you. Something in the relationship between the two of you saved him."

"And killed you!"

"No, a demon killed me, and Eve ordered that. She ordered it to hurt you, to prove she was dehumanised enough to lead the clans, but she still couldn't bring herself to kill you... You have nothing left here, I'm gone, your father is gone and any hope of getting your mother and sister back is gone."

"Well, thanks for making me feel better!"

"I'm not supposed to be making you feel better I'm supposed to be making you see that there is no dilemma. You have something to go to back to San Francisco for, you have no home there but you have one here you hate to be in here, sell this place and you could have somewhere far better than our apartment or you could buy our apartment from my parents."

"I couldn't go back there. I certainly could never fall asleep with the TV on again!"

"Tasteless."

"True, but it's still you even if you are dead."

Alice smiled. "Plus you need to learn how to use your powers properly. I've heard that the funeral nearly killed you. "

"It did and the flight over was hell. All those people crammed into one space, and I never knew aeroplanes called up such strong emotions!"

"Who better to learn from than the Charmed Ones? The worlds most powerful witches"

"Drunkenness, ice cream..."

"And sex"

"...And sex, dull it quite nicely, thank you. That's another thing, you know I'm not normally like that!"

"It was a grief thing. You can take things normally now. I think that might even be what he wants. To actually try normal with someone who already knows who he is. Who's like him."

"According to you there are a lot of people like him in this world. What if I'm just the one who happens to be here now? And how do you know all this stuff all of a sudden?"

"There are a lot of witches but there aren't so many of you. You had what it took to pull him from the Thrall. It's very rare anyone can do that, there are married couples that wouldn't work for. And as for how do I know? They have a lot of relatives up there, who approve of the idea of you and Chris being together. That's how I was even able to come down here so soon after my death. Now I have to go Penny's introducing me to James Dean, but before I go I want to see you pinch yourself. Hard."

Kara pinched the flesh of her right arm hard enough to leave red crescent moon marks where her nails had come into contact with her skin.

"OW! Happy? What was that for?" she rubbed her arm.

"So that you would know you aren't dreaming... and to see if you would do it when I asked." Alice grinned evilly.

"Sadist!"

"I miss you too. I'll come back when I can" with that Alice's spirit faded in a swirl of white lights, leaving Kara staring and caught in a state of wonder.


	13. Fights and flights

**Chapter 13**

**Fights and flights**

"What's up with you?"

Chris mumbled quietly and turned away from Wyatt, and pretended not to care and to stack crates, slamming them down.

"Little brother, you'll break something and then Mom'll kill us! You for doing it and me for letting you ...How long has it been?"

"I heard from her last week, but she didn't really tell me anything, it's been three weeks since I've seen her. I keep wanting to orb in but I don't know if that's the right thing to do, I know that she's grieving and she never actually answered when I asked her..."

Wyatt still couldn't see his younger brothers' face but he could feel the pain rising off of him.

"She'll be back dude, she risked her life for you, helped our family kill all those demons and as for the two of you having a strong enough bond to break the Thrall before you even knew you had one. She'll be back. Plus I forgot to tell you that she called the club yesterday, while you were at the wholesalers with Mom, to say she was getting in tomorrow, which would be today."

"Wyatt! Dammit! Did she happen to leave you a time that you could forget about too?"

"I think she said she was landing from Birmingham at about 6.30."

"Wyatt! It's already seven. Dammit, dammit, dammit..." Chris orbed out the sound of swearing hanging in the air in his wake.

"Don't you want to know the..." Wyatt called out as he watched the blue lights from his little brothers orb fade "...flight number?" he finished weakly.

Chris orbed into into the enormous airport and was suddenly very much aware that he had absolutely no idea where to find Kara.

"Dammit" he flinched inwardly, and wondered why that was his favourite word today, particularly when yelling was probably not the best way to find the person he was looking for. He sent out his thought, still wondering how exactly to control the volume on it. 'Kara, just call me and I'll find you.'

Meanwhile at the opposite end of the airport, at the baggage carousels, in 'Arrivals', Kara was knocked backwards as she was lifting one of her suitcases, by a man who shoulder barged her.

It had seemed deliberate, but in her many sojourns in airports over the last year, that airports often proved to be stressful places, where some of humanities worst traits often came to the fore.

"Sorry." the man said sounding not even slightly so. Kara turned to accept the apology, though she intended to do so in a thoroughly sarcastic manner, the kind that her father would have been proud of and she was shocked not so much by what she saw than by what she felt, when she looked at the man.

"I would say that was OK. I wouldn't have been very gracious about it, but I would have said it, but you aren't apologizing for banging into me are you?" she asked sharply "so what are you? I'm thinking shape shifter?"

"Man, you're good. They said that you weren't all that good yet but...I mean man!"

"Thank you" she said uncertainly "Who said?"

"The people who put a bounty on your head" the demon raised an energy ball which was camouflaged in a split second by his power.

"Hey! Exposure risk, much!"

"Lady, I'm a shape shifter what do I care?

Kara flinched did an inward 'Doh' and changed tactics, shouting at the top of her lungs "Help!... erm ... my angry, homicidal ex boyfriend's found me. I really NEED my friend CHRIS to help me STOP HIM. He's a REAL DEMON when he gets like he is NOW!"

Chris' head snapped up as his whitelighter powers responded to her call. He thought for a moment and then jogged back in the direction of the bathrooms, musing ruefully if this was how Superman felt about 'phone booths.

It's amazing how little attention a man can draw, when he disappears from one bathroom and reappears almost simultaneously in another one a mile away in a swirl of light in a busy airport.

Kara stood jammed into place by the crush of people around the baggage carousel. She might not have been able to see the energy ball masked as it was by the shape shifters' powers, but it was so close to her she could feel the heat of it on her face and the humming of the energy made her skin itch.

Chris elbowed his way closer and when he judged himself to be directly in line with Kara he yelled "Home!" as loud as his lungs would let him. The crowd lurched forward apparently unaware of the swirl of blue lights, though Chris was fairly sure he heard one guy say something about sparks coming from the baggage carousel.

He breathed a sigh of relief and jogged back toward the arrivals area bathroom in order to orb home.

Unfortunately when he got home he realised his gesture to take Kara back to the Manor, had been a little general. He arrived to a scene of chaos. His mother was blasting madly at the shape shifter, while Kara was engaged in desperate hand to hand combat with the demon between Piper's volleys.

"Chris" his mother turned on him, "Why? Why did you...?"

"Piper!" Kara called "Little help! Please!" An energy ball bounced off he wall behind Piper, closely followed by Kara herself as an energy ball hit her in the chest.

"Ow..." Kara dragged herself up and ran back at the demon. Piper turned back to her son.

"Go downstairs and help your aunts"

"What?"

"Go!"

Chris understood that tone brooked no argument and started down the stairs wondering what his aunts could be dealing with that was so important that they couldn't help with the shape shifter in the attic.

He soon saw the three mightily confused and fairly angry passengers in the living room.

Paige looked at her nephew "Never do the wave your hand and yell thing in a crowded place Christopher!"

Chris flinched at the use of his 'proper' name, that had rarely been trotted out since he was thirteen.

"You do it!" He knew it was a weak answer but it was the best he had right at that moment.

"Not often I don't Mister and I've been doing this a lot longer than you have" she turned and threw her hands up before letting them fall to her side with a resigned slap.

Phoebe now turned on her nephew "You are gonna have to talk fast with the Elders to get enough memory dust to fix this"

Chris opened his mouth to speak but barely managed to make a vowel sound before his eldest aunt cut him off "Nope, we're not doing it you are. And you're going to have to fetch what these people were going to pick up, we can't leave them all sleeping it off in the airport... And Kara's stuff too. From the sound of what's going on upstairs she isn't going to be in good enough shape to do it herself."

Chris opened his mouth to speak again but Paige cut him off "GO! Talk to the elders. NOW! Please."

Chris muttered under his breath "Everybody keeps telling me to go. What am I the messenger boy?"

His aunts turned to glare at him while the sounds of another explosion bounced off the walls above his head.

"OK! OK!" He orbed out, heading for the top of the Golden Gate Bridge to grovel to the Elders. 'Man I hate grovelling' he thought as he left.


	14. Still We Rise?

A/N I'm thinking this is the last chapter, leaving it open for a new story about the child and the development of the relationship up to that point but I'm open to suggestions if people think it should keep running.

Thanks

Purple

**Chapter 14**

**Still we Rise?**

The Charmed One's collapsed on a sofa in the living room, after getting rid of the confused passengers.

"Phew!" Phoebe sighed as she slumped down "OK, nephew of mine, it was your fault we got in that mess but I commend your ability to talk fast getting that much memory dust out of the Elders."

Chris sat with his arm draped around Kara, having watched Wyatt heal her, that irritated Chris, somehow that he hadn't been able to heal her himself, but he did have to admit all the wheeling and dealing with the Elders to fix the big, fat, airport, type mess he had managed to get the family into, eventually all these thoughts cartwheeling through his head managed to communicate it to the others in the room, as the stunningly witty retort, "Nuhhg."

"Hear, hear" said Kara weakly.

- - -

"So..." Chris propped himself up on his elbow and looked at Kara.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you decide to come back?"

"Not to be to blunt about it!" Kara joked "because I wanted to. I have a chance at a real life here. Not looking after a sick man, not that I... it wasn't an obligation looking after my father. He was my Dad and he was sick, but it meant I didn't have a life. I need to learn too, how to be a witch, how to have a life." She stopped and looked at him her eyes intense "And I thought I might have people here who cared about me." she watched him closely "Maybe even loved me." She stood then, and picked up a shirt and turned her back to put it on, knowing she couldn't say what she needed to say while she was looking at him.

"If you don't it's okay, you know, we've known each other for such a short amount of time and everything has been so..." she raised her hands in the air "...that we never really had any chance to do the normal stuff!"

"What normal stuff K'?"

"Like dating and that whole circling thing, we went straight to sex and death."

"And we're still here, and the only thing I wanted while you weren't here was for you to be here. If you want to do the dating thing and pretend like we haven't been through what we've been through, then I'm fine with that, as long as you give us a chance!" He came to stand behind her and looped his hands around her waist.

"That was all I wanted to hear." She turned and kissed him.

- - -

"Hey," Piper's voice floated up the stairs "are you guys getting up today?"

Kara smiled as she dragged her hair off her face, and watched Chris pulled on a shirt. "Hey" she called softly to him. He smiled and they turned as one and went down the stairs.

They were slightly surprised when they saw Chris' mother stood at the bottom of the stairs with her hands on her hips.

"Hey Mom?" Chris said his tone questioning.

"Kara" Piper said "We need a word." Piper watched the panic cross the younger woman's face "don't worry it's nothing bad."

They trooped into the living room, Chris and Kara's fingers intertwined tightly "Kara, Paige spoke with the Elders about your sister and her group."

"And the Rising?" Kara asked

"Yes, and the Rising. And on that point, it doesn't look like it's over."

"What?" Kara and Chris cried in outraged unison.

"Don't panic. From what we were told there was a reason that only one sister was saved, when your mother kidnapped you both. The Rising was neutral and had to be given the chance to go either way. Good or evil. In beating the Thrall and winning Chris away from your sister evil didn't win so..."

Kara smiled "So that means I'm not evil?"

Piper laughed "No you're not evil and apparently, right now, neither is the Rising"

Kara and Chris both smiled widely. Chris' phone trilled "It's P3, I'll be back as soon as I can."

"There is one thing that does bother me though. Even the Elders wouldn't tell us what the Rising is...?"

"A child of the Rising is twice blessed, we always thought by evil, because, The Rising, is said to be the child of a traitor. I am considered to be a traitor to evil because I followed my father and became one of the good guys. A witch. I suppose if it was the other way around then Chris or Wyatt would be a traitor to good. I much prefer that I'm the traitor." Piper paled at the thought her youngest son was being tricked into something "Don't worry, it could still be Mel or Wyatt, it could not even be this generation. My mother thought my sister and I were the Rising until we grew up without the right powers. We don't have to tell him, right?"

Piper shook her head, she knew her son cared for this girl, and that she had cared enough about him to make it possible for Piper and her sisters to kill her own sister. She also knew she didn't want her son, to have it as difficult as his parents had it.

"Kara" Chris' voice floated into the room and she turned to go into the kitchen.

Piper smiled and turned her gaze to the chandelier "Hey! You guys are gonna give them a chance this time. Give their Blessed Child a chance!" She was yelling directly at the Elders.


End file.
